Chicago Sky is on the rise this season. Despite running a 3-3 win-loss tourney, they have shown potential to be one of the best youngest cores out there. Although now, Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso are their double trouble rookies, the Sky had great defensive offenders earlier as well. One of them is the 2x WNBA All-Defensive Team player Elizabeth Williams. Sweeping double-digit scores in almost every clip for her team, the 30-year-old veteran has also garnered a lot of attention.

Chicago does love great ballers. Although William’s best performances are out on display in the Illinois-based team, she has had quite a run in the WNBA. Impressing the crowd both on and off the court and fighting for justice, let us learn who is Sky’s 9-year veteran Elizabeth Williams.

The journey of Elizabeth Williams to Chicago

Born in Colchester, England to Nigerian American parents, Williams brings a vast ethnic background to the WNBA. Her brother Mark Williams, who currently plays in the Charlotte Hornets, too is a hooper who graduated with the same alma mater as his sister. Elizabeth completed her high school career at Princess Anne in Virginia. She then moved to Duke. In her four years in Durham, she led her team to 3 Elite Eight, 4 Sweet Sixteen, 2 ACC conference titles, and 3 regular season titles. Elizabeth Williams also received the WBCA Defensive Player of the Year and All-America Team award in her final season with Duke.

She ended her collegiate career averaging 14.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game as a senior. She was also the only center with the highest assist averages in the ACC during her time. Her career blocks read 426 in four years, making her the 9th all-time leading blocker in NCAA history. Moving on to the WNBA, she became the fourth overall pick in the 2015 WNBA draft, going into the Connecticut Sun roster. She simultaneously represented the İstanbul Üniversitesi SK, a Turkish women’s basketball club based in Istanbul, Turkey.

After one season where she averaged 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds, the Sun traded her to Atlanta Dream. There, she improved her numbers, exceeding them to 11.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game. Hence, she grabbed the WNBA Most Improved Player of the Year award. Following her five-year-long stint with the Dream, she decided to move to the Washington Mystics. Where she stayed for a year and later moved to her current team, the Chicago Sky.

How is Elizabeth Williams soaring in the Sky?

Moving to a young core in her seventh season might have looked a little different. However, Williams is the perfect role model for the incoming young players and leads them to greater heights. After a rollercoaster ride of a journey, it seems like the 6-ft-3 center has finally found a home in Chicago. She has consistently improved her numbers and is currently in her best offensive and defensive form. She has upgraded her stat line from 9.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.5 blocks in the first year to 12 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 2.3 steals, and 2.2 blocks so far in this season.

While the Chicago Sky has only played 6 games so far and is only running with a 3-3 win-loss record, Williams is doing decently. In their win over the Dallas Wings, Elizabeth Williams achieved a great mar. She became the only third player ever in WNBA history to grab a double-double with 10+ points and 10+ rebounds in a game. To top it off, she also added 5+ steals, and 5+ blocks in the game against the Wings. Consequently, she joined the 3x WNBA champion Candace Parker and Natasha Howard by creating this brilliant stat line.

Moreover, she has started all six games for Teresa Weatherspoon and added double-digit scores to every game, except in the win over New York. So far, she has also grabbed two double-double performances. However, while this season has only started, hence her on-court achievements will only add, her off-court activities over the years have also gained a lot of traction.

WNBPA Secretary Williams and her off-court ‘responsibilities’

Apart from her rise in the game, Williams also found greatness on her off-the-court stints. One of them was her active participation in the “Black Lives Matter” movement, a cause that the WNBA supports wholeheartedly. Another was the “Justice Movement.” During the latter, Williams was playing for Atlanta Dreams. In her time there, Elizabeth Williams had to lead the entire team and the WNBA against their team’s co-owner with a 49% controlling stake Senator Kelly Loeffler.

Then, Loeffler had commented on the Black Lives Matter movement, enraging the league. The WNBA itself stood up to denounce Loeffler in the 2020 Georgia Senate runoff election. It also endorsed Rev. Raphael Warnock. The Sky’s center also actively urged the people through social media to vote for Warnock. She commented on the movement saying, “We really didn’t know what to do or what to say because at the time, it was our owner making those comments, and those were our paychecks. But once we decided on that as a team, other players in the league were right with us.”

Elizabeth Williams has truly shown how much using your voice for the right can change the outcome. While she continues to be the Secretary of the WNBPA alongside President Nneka Ogwumike, it is great to see her perform so spectacularly on the floor as well. It will be interesting to see where the roads lead this unstoppable hooper as she joins the “League Barbie” Angel Reese.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video